(1) Field of the Invention The invention relates to a suspended ceiling having a gridwork of intersecting beams that support panels. Such a suspended ceiling hangs from a structural ceiling.
The invention particularly relates to a segment of a suspended ceiling that hangs by itself, away from side walls, below the structural ceiling, to produce a cloud, or island, effect.
(2) Description of the Related Art
Most suspended ceilings extend completely over a room. Such a suspended ceiling hangs from a structural ceiling, and extends horizontally in a flat plane. The suspended ceiling creates a space between the structural and suspended ceiling that generally contains building elements such as piping, wiring, and air ducts. The suspended ceiling generally has openings for lights and air ventilation. In such suspended ceilings, stiff, rectangular lay-in panels, are supported in grid openings formed by intersecting main and cross beams.
Occasionally, segments of such suspended ceilings, referred to as clouds, or islands, that do not extend completely over a room, are used primarily to produce an ornamental effect in an area.
Such a cloud may extend in a flat horizontal plane, but more generally the cloud has a curved contour in a vertical plane to create a three-dimensional structure. Such curved contours can simulate a wave, a vault, a valley, or a combination of such contours, as well as other vertical contours.
The grid in such clouds is formed with longitudinally extending parallel main beams, connected with cross beams. Preformed lay-in panels that conform to the cloud vertical contour, curved or flat, are set in openings in the grid of such a ceiling cloud, as seen for instance in U.S. Pat. No. 6,374,564.
A wide variety of preformed lay-in panels must be available to accommodate the wide variety of different vertical contours that exist in such clouds.